


Eating Out

by CaptainLyssa



Series: William's Story [3]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Family Dinners, Family Dynamics, Humor, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLyssa/pseuds/CaptainLyssa
Summary: The Mulder-Scully family go out for dinner with some interesting results.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: William's Story [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911046
Kudos: 26





	Eating Out

The corner restaurant opened at five thirty most nights. It attracted families for the first hour. Especially on pizza and pasta night like tonight.

They were no different from most of the other patrons. The mother carried a little girl, perhaps six months old. Her other hand tightly bound a boy of three. The husband, one hand on the small of his wife’s back, the other holding their older son.

I hadn’t seen them before. Maybe they’d just moved into the neighbourhood, or maybe they’d stoped on the way to somewhere else. Either way, they look like a nice family. You get to know the one you really don’t want to serve. The kind who are more interested in themselves and having a good time than watching their rambunctious kids.

The man sat opposite his partner. Each placed a boy beside them. The red haired child sat with his father, while the older kid sat next to his mother like a checker board. I found it strange, as they’d come in the other way around. It seemed to work for them.

Leaving them alone for a few minutes, I glanced over to see if they’d be ready to order. The comfortable silence at the table surprised me. Let me tell you, not much surprised me after ten years in this business. The way the husband looked over the top of his menu, be still my beating heart. If my **_very_** ex-husband looked at me like that, we’d still be married. They communicated without the need for words, it really was that obvious. I glanced back several times, noticing the boys had the same knack as their parents. They were a quiet bunch but I could feel the love from across the room.

When I approached for drinks, the woman politely asked for a high chair. After fetching it, she placed the little girl in it between herself and her husband, within easy reach of them both. It showed a relaxed, shared parenting style I didn’t see much. He looked up at her with the most incredible hazel eyes. Green flecked at the centre, I could have lost myself in those eyes. No wonder his wife did.

“Two chocolate milkshakes, an iced tea and water for me please,” she ordered in a sweet voice. “I think we need some more time to make up our minds.”

“Can I get some bread for the little one,” I asked, noting the baby had her father’s eyes. The rest of her a mini copy of her mother.

“Peeeennnnneeeee,” the little girl captured me with her almost green gaze. I could have sworn she asked for a plate of penne pasta. At least that’s the mental picture I couldn’t get out of me head. I smiled at her and she made the same sound again, this time more deliberately. It spooked me out a bit, so I left to fill the drink order.

As I added ice cream to the milkshakes, I noticed the mother turn to her daughter and glare at her. The older boy defended his sister, which drew the father into the argument. Suddenly it stopped and I got too busy with another three families walking in the door to pay so much attention.

Scully rolled her eyes at her family. “I told you, if you’re not going to behave, we won’t be coming out as a family again,” she remonstrated.

“We didn’t do anything,” William whined, ‘and Missy only tried to talk like you’re always telling us to do, Mom.”

“I think you son has a point, Scully,” Mulder defended his eldest child.

 _OK, what does everyone want_ , Scully gave up and used her mental abilities.

“Peperoni,” William and Mulder chorused together while Charlie wrinkled his nose up at the suggestion. The rest of the family didn’t need to read his mind to know his thoughts.

“Oh no,” Mulder teased the boys, “you’re mom wants pasta.”

 _Pleasssssse_ , they turned their complete mental focus on Scully.

“Okay, pizza it is,” she relented, realising this seating arrangement wouldn’t work. “Swap boys,” she suggested.

Their grins, followed by high fives as they changed places gave away their delight at getting their way. Mulder join in his son’s happiness. Scully knew his love of all things unhealthy.

The waitress brought the drinks, noticed the new seating arrangement and smiled politely. “Ready?” she enquired.

“Yes,” Scully answered distracted by her daughter waving her hands in the air and squealing “peeeeennnneeee.”

“Sign language,” Mulder chimed in with a big grin on his face, as though it explained the action and noise.

Surprised by the comment, the waitress plastered the smile on her face. “So that’ll be a small vegetarian pizza for you and Charlie,” she pointed her pen at Scully and her son. Turning to Mulder and William, she stated, “a family,” glancing down at the five-year-old and his father, she gave the pair a questioning look, “peperoni, pasta Puttanesca to share, and a small bowl of plain penne for the little one.”

“Thank you,” Scully smiled politely.

 _Where did that come from_ , the waitress wondered, walking away from the family. _How did I know what they wanted without them telling me? No one would believe me if I told them_. Shaking her head she promptly forgot about the incident.

 _Whatever will that poor woman think_ , Scully complained to her family, keeping her mental focus tight.

A look of pure amusement passed between William and his father. “At least she got our order right,” the chorused together.


End file.
